This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Koch Industries Expanding in Wichita

New office building first step in expansion that will eventually almost double size of Koch campus.

Jun 03, 2013

Koch Industries' Wichita headquarters expansion is picking up speed.

The company has hired Hutton Construction of Wichita, along with its partner GE Johnson, as construction manager for the project. Other partners in the project are project manager Cassidy Turley, project architect Howard and Helmer Expansion and project engineer Professional Engineering Consultants, all of Wichita.

Plans for the Koch expansion of its more than one-million-square-foot Wichita headquarters on 37th Street North between Oliver and Hillside include the addition of a new 210,000 square-foot office building with the capacity for 745 employees in three stories of office space and a lower level.

Plans for the Koch expansion of its more than one-million-square-foot Wichita headquarters on 37th Street North between Oliver and Hillside include the addition of a new 210,000 square-foot office building with the capacity for 745 employees in three stories of office space and a lower level.

The new building will be free standing but will connect to the rest of the campus through walkways and tunnels. It is the first phase of a long-term master plan to handle future growth for Koch in Wichita.

In keeping with the planning for future growth, Koch will be fully paying for a re-routing of 37th Street North about a quarter-mile north of its present location.

The current intersections at Oliver and Hillside will not change and 37th "Street will remain open to traffic until the new street is done, which is expected to be in October. A right turn lane for eastbound traffic will be added on Oliver at 37th Street during the construction.

Rerouting the street will signal the start of a long-range project that will see the Koch campus, which now encompasses about 100 acres, almost double to 180 acres.

Project to start soon

"People will start to changes right away as we begin moving dirt and laying the groundwork for new utilities, additional parking, new interior roads and more, said Craig Highfill, vice president for facilities solutions for Koch Business Solutions. "We're working closely with the City to make these changes as seamless as possible for people traveling 37th Street."

Construction will begin in the fall of this year and will be done by the middle of 2015.

"This is an exciting time for us and for Wichita as we add the office capacity and other infrastructure to accommodate the next phase of Koch Industries' growth," said Dave Robertson, president and COO of Koch Industries.

More than 2,900 people are employed by Koch companies in Wichita and they currently have more than 250 open roles at the Wichita headquarters. In 2012, Koch companies paid compensation and benefits to Wichita employees totaling nearly $400 million.